Impassioned East Jefferson County farmers from more than 20 nearby farms gather at the newly opened Chimacum Corner Farmstand and make demands that each of us eat more of the food they grow! They claim it is essential to the future health of our bodies,

community, economy, and planet. Fortunately for all, the small rural grocery (pictured above) agrees full-heartedly with the farmers and is committed to selling first and foremost “FOOD FROM HERE”. Come on in for a visit and taste our special North Olympic “terroir”!

A—Store News

Hanni’s Produce Porch Update!

July 27th, 2015

Date: Monday, July 27, 2015

It’s like embarking on a culinary exploration, with tour guide book in hand and language lessons downloaded into your phone… that is—walking through the produce porch. If you truly want to enjoy yourself, do as the locals do (I think that’s something Rick Steves said once?). And what do they do? Eat locally!

B—Farmers

Finnriver’s Keith Kisler, Grain Farmer at Heart

October 8th, 2014

by Katy McCoy

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!“ Was I the only one who had this play in their head driving up Center Valley this summer?

Fields of tall grain swaying in the breeze on the historic Brown family dairy with the Olympic Mountains and new fire station as a backdrop. Jaw-dropping and it got me to thinking: I’ve got to talk to Finnriver’s Keith Kisler and get the scoop on this development.

C—Producers

Jim Queen — Sequim’s “King” of Caramel

February 11th, 2014

It’s February. And we’re biting into the dark, salty, (yet sweet) story behind Jim Queen’s “Chocolate Serenade” confections. (Don’t tell us you’re not interested — we know how much you devour, that you prefer dark chocolate over milk, and that given a choice you say “YES” to salt).

Jim’s love affair with caramel began in childhood (Sugar Daddies on a stick) and grew from there. He first began making his own caramel

D—Home (Kitchen and Garden)

Finnriver Cover Crop SEED FROM HERE

October 9th, 2014

By Katy McCoy

Each year, things get a little closer to perfection. Now you can naturally build up your bed’s soil nutrients and “biomass”, fight pests, sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, and support a local farmer all at the same time through one simple act – buying and planting Keith’s cover crop seed!

Dave and Gail Halsaver, along with 7 employees, have been growing beautiful perennials at Foxglove Greenhouses in Hansville (outside Kingston) since 2000 and before that in Poulsbo. Although mainly a wholesale nursery selling to 40 Western WA nurseries, they are open to the public on Saturdays during the summer season. Hoping to get the story behind all of their early spring flowering plants now for sale at the Corner, we invited ourselves over for an early sneak preview.

“Jeff and Judy Childs have been cultivating Japanese Maples in Quilcene (Vinland Nursery) since 1989, participating in an longstanding tradition that began in Japan during the 1700s, spread to England in 1820, then quickly spread throughout the temperate world. Horticulturists everywhere were captivated by the species’ inherent beauty and its ability to take on a great multitude of colors, leaf shapes, and growing patterns. Over the centuries, hundreds of new varieties have been developed.

Every successful organic gardener or farmer knows that one of the most important requirements for growing healthy plants is starting with healthy soil: soil that is pH-balanced, packed full of nutrients, and teaming with microscopic organisms. If you feed your soil’s microorganisms, it’s said that they will pitch in and do 90% of the remaining work to keep the soil (and therefore the plants) healthy.

Folks, it’s that time of year – time to get those greenhouse benches or windowsills cleared off and seeds planted. In this post we’re going to talk about the reasons why you’d be crazy to not buy local organic seed from Oatsplanter Farm and/or Seed Dreams, our local seed producers each of which are offering their full lines at Chimacum Corner Farmstand. We’ll also fill you in on the Rockwell Bean seeds from Willowood Farm on Whidbey (which you’d also be crazy to not buy).

Time to start your starts! Last week, the earliest Midori plant starts arrived and in another 1-2 weeks, Red Dog starts will join them. Both Midori and Red Dog starts are special in that the varieties have been chosen for their adaptability to our climate and unlike starts you see in most nurseries, the starts have been grown locally in unheated greenhouses, so the plants are hardy and ready to put in the ground the day you buy them. The plant starts will arrive in waves and only be available when it’s time to plant. Takes a lot of guesswork out of it for us novices!

Enough about seeds and starts. All that counts for nothing if we don’t have the proper dirt. New this year the Corner is selling 25 lb bags of Roger Short’s Magical Soil for $9.99 – the perfect soil to jumpstart your plant starts. In this article we intend to get to the bottom of the magic in this Center Valley substrate and instruct you how to best use it. To get our answers, we’ve cornered the “dirtologist” himself, Roger Short, on his 400 acre Short’s Family Farm where he raises his famed 100% grass-fed beef that we so enjoy.

E—Health

Meat Matters: Why Meat Has Been Given a Raw Deal

June 24th, 2013

By: Molly Force, ND

What I am about to share with you may come as a shock. It may be counter to everything you were told about choosing a healthy diet. Brace yourself. I believe meat can be healthy and good for you, even red meat!

Forget what the mainstream media has told you about animal proteins and fats. Much of their information is outdated and confused. Eating animal proteins found in fish, meat, and eggs are actually quite beneficial